


Malcolm McNamara Finds Out Things About Himself

by Random_ag



Category: Bendy and the Ink Machine
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Coming Out, M/M, Mentioned Demoman|Tavish McGroot, it will make sense, its just several words of one man finding out how queer he is
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:41:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24718429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Random_ag/pseuds/Random_ag
Summary: Happy pride, Malcolm is having a blast
Relationships: Joey Drew/Malcolm McNamara
Comments: 4
Kudos: 1





	Malcolm McNamara Finds Out Things About Himself

Malcolm McNamara had been pretty sure, for the better part of his mostly tranquil life, that he was straight.

Considering how much he loved his husband he was not as straight as he’d first believed.

See, he’d only gotten down the heterosexual half of being straight - but on the romantic side of things, he had to take himself some time before understanding that he was not as picky when it came to fall in love. Specifically, it had taken his son and brother-in-law (now his beloved spouse) to come out of the closet first for him to even think of starting to question his knowledge of himself.

So he was biromantic, and he was glad he knew that.

But lately he’d become fascinated with the relationship between Allison Pendle, Susie Campbell and Thomas Connor.

Er, perhaps ‘fascinated’ isn’t the right word - he felt a strange but harmless kind of curiosity towards their relationship. He’d never quite considered the possibility of something different from monogamous love: he’d heard of fabled threesomes from boasting and excessively loquacious classmates in law school, but the polyamory between the voice actresses and the handyman felt much different. This was an actual relationship - and a healthy one to boot! - between three people where each one loved the others, as opposed to a passing fancy, a way to spice up an evening or flat out cheating.

Polyamory, it was called. And the more he thought about it, the more he thought he had gotten something else about himself wrong as well.

“Would you like a boyfriend?”

Joey widened his eyes before narrowing them in confusion. He turned to Malcolm, head tilted to the side.

“But we’re husbands.” he pointed out.

“Oh, I know, I was there! I was one of the grooms, remember?” the lawyer joked, rubbing the animator’s shoulder affectionately. He earned a smooch on the cheek and answered with another; not even a minute later he was reveling and laughing in his darling’s clutches, caught in a vicious cycle of endlessly giving and recieving kisses.

Well, it would have been endless if Malcolm hadn’t successfully managed to detach himself from the loving ministrations just enough to speak.

“I meant as in if there’s someone else you like.” he explained to calm both of them down, “Who isn’t me, of course.”

Catching how tense Joey got and how his mouth was already opening, anxious to deny to have even thought of something like that (and Malcolm didn’t have to wonder whether it was true or not, because he knew Joey would have never lied about something like that), he reassured him as he took his hand: “I don’t mean cheating, don’t worry. I know you wouldn’t, and I wouldn’t either. I love you too much. But in case you did find someone you like, you could tell me. We could have a polyamorous relationship, if you want.”

“You mean like, like Susie, Allison and Thomas?”

“Exactly! Only if you want.”

“I… I mean, it’s… Look, it’s a good thought, in theory! I’m just… You know, there’s just about a million ways I can ruin that.”

“Joey.”

“I could probably start playing favourites and ignore one of you in favor of the other and that’s just- that’s just unfair and, and unhealthy-”

“ _Joey._ ”

“-though it’s more likely that you’ll love each other more so I’ll just be sort of staying there in the back like a little leech trying to pretend I’m part of the whole, you know?, like a poser, except more annoying and bothersome and-”

“Joey, you wouldn’t mess this up.”

“How do you know?”

“Because I’m very in love with you, and if you had another boyfriend who was very in love with you the two of us would join forces to bury you so deep in our affection your self loathing would give up on digging to search for you.”

The animator fell silent for a moment. Malcolm could tell he was in deep thought.

“… Why do you bring this up now?”

The lawyer felt a bit of heat flush to his cheeks: “Ah, well, I… I think I’m polyamorous.” he mumbled.

Joey smiled.

“I didn’t know that.” he murmured. He squeezed his husband’s hand protectively, so very in love and so very proud.

Malcolm chuckled as he landed another kiss on his beloved’s pale cheek: “Neither did I, honestly.”

Biromantic and polyamorous.

It felt good to say. Biromantic polyamorous.

Not necessary things to know, maybe. But it felt so good! So good to have a word to explain things, to make sense of something otherwise unexplainable!

It baffled him how he could have just… Never known, for the rest of his life, just because he had no idea there was even a chance for such possibilities to exist.

And because he had thought that exact same thought which has been written in the paragraph preceeding the one that is currently being read (that is to say, this very paragraph) about a week or so after his first epiphany, he was struck by another bolt of genial curiosity.

“What are you googling?”

Joey didn’t want to spy on his own husband during break, but he guessed outright asking would have been slightly better that peeking from behind his shoulder and sticking his damned nose in his business.

Malcolm didn’t mind the polite intrusion: “Gender.” he replied with serene nonchalance.

“Why’s that?”

“Oh, you know.” the lawyer smiled, “I’ve gotten basically everything about me wrong so far, so why not this too?”

The animator gently patted his own leg excitedly, grey eyes gleaming wide: “You think so? Like you could be like Bertrum, or Susie, or-?”

“Maybe! Not like it would hurt anybody, anyways.”

“Well, if you find out you’re a woman I’m gonna have to asses that I’m bi, but like, only for you.”

“Only for me?”

“Yeah. The only woman of my life.”

“Aw, how sweet!” Malcolm giggled, “I’m looking more for something out of the binary, honestly. Not sure if man or woman would really cut it for me.”

“You want to eat first?”

“Nah. I’ll be quick, I promise. You go have lunch, I’ll be right there.”

And as precise as clockwork, he kept his promise. After a good quarter of an hour since Joey had settled at a table to replenish his stomach and energies, as Henry had insisted he did, the door to the break room opened to reveal a grinning Malcolm.

“Guess what!” he exclaimed, attracting the attention of all who sat around.

“What?” asked Shawn.

“I was right.”

Only Joey, who had context to the cryptic message, could reply in a similarly cryptic manner: “So you were wrong?”

“Yep! I’m a demoman!”

Kim gargled all of his coffee on the table.

“ _ **TAVISH?**_ ” he all but yelled, voice rising of an octave.

The lawyer realized his mistake: “Shit.” he eloquently said, but it was too late.

“ ** _YOU’RE TAVISH MCGROOT FROM TEAM FORTRESS TWO?!?_** ” the toy maker screamed again before his tone definitely broke and went from oscillating with giggles to a full blown howling that turned his entire face fifteen shades darker by how much he was laughing. Johnny did the reasonable thing and pointed his olive tanned finger on the lawyer, ignoring his dying friend in favor of pointing out: “HE’S SCOTTISH TOO! HE’S SCOTTISH TOO!”

“Demiman, I meant demi!” Malcolm explained, already hiding his face in shame for the mistake as several snickerings and cheers arose from his fellow workers. “I meant demiman, I made a typo!”

“This is a verbal conversation!” Shawn shouted back at him while patting Kim’s back to try and keep him from successfully astral projecting through asphyxiation.

“A verbal typo, then!”

The lawyer sat down on the steps of the stairs, red in the face and about to either cry or burst in laughter, as his husband approached him to pull him into a hug.


End file.
